we want to make sure that people have realistic expectations but i can promise you the federal government will be working as closely as possible with the state and local officials and we won't quit until this is done. >> reporter: i think this image is probably the one that sticks with me the most. just home after home buried in sand. entire neighborhoods completely wiped out. and for the people who live there, it's slowly sinking in that everything in these coastal communities that they've grown to love, it's all going to have to be rebuilt but safety first. and in most of these coastal communities every city you go to, city after city, all you can hear is the hissing of natural gas. residents there very concerned about the chance for even more fires and we've already seen how bad that can be in new york city. we'll have more on that destruction there especially in the breezy point neighborhood coming up at 6:30. >> we were talking -- you can't even get trailers for people to stay in as temporary housing because there's no infrastructure and you've got to clear away all of that debris. >